El Cazador de la Bruja Blog Posts

I stumbled across El Cazador de la Bruja late one night while perusing Netflix. The description sounded interesting despite only rating 2.5 stars. I was nicely surprised! El Cazador de la Bruja is said to be the spiritual successor of … Continue reading →
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El Cazador de la Bruja is the third installment in Bee Train’s “girls-with-guns” trilogy, following Noir and Madlax. Although I cannot say I’ve seen either of the two aforementioned titles, I will say that the term “girls-with-guns” is what appealed me to this show. It’s recently become one of my favorite subsets of anime, because [...]
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El Cazador de la Bruja Set 2
Released By: Funimation
Released: 12/15/09
Reviewed: 2/8/10
Related Reviews
Rated: 15+
Abandoning the format of the first half, the second half of El Cazador de la Bruja begins with a bang and ends with a sunset. In episode fourteen, the history of Ellis explained as viewers are taken [...]
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Medium: TV Anime (26 episodes)
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Director: Koichi Mashimo
Studio: Bee Train
Original Run: Apr. 2 - Sep. 24, 2007 (TV Tokyo–Japan)
Release Date: Dec. 15, 2009 (FUNimation–N.America)
Rated: Not Rated
Read our review of Part 1!
There’s definitely a division between the last box set and this one, an accelerated (though far from rushed) pacing and linked plot advancement, that makes episodes 14-25 a little more interesting, if only at some slight expense of the series’ sense of patient humor. Sight gags and the female leads’ charm remain but are relied upon far less often to carry the series, which now leverages viewers’ existing investment in Nadie and Ellis to bring weight to the involvement and interaction of ancillary characters such as Rosenberg, LA, Blue Eyes, and Ricardo.
The formulaic town stops are also given a tweak to develop relationships between Nadie, Ellis, Ricardo, and Lirio. You might get sick at the predictability of Ricardo encounters, but formulaic does not mean boring. There’s a gradual (if only predictably episodic) humanization budding beneath the naïve Ellis that blossoms quite believably. Her foil, the downright creepy gothic tween LA (the other human-created witch/stalker/assassin), likewise gets a chance to be more than the ruffles of his shirt and empty intimidations. His character, like Ellis, grows via confrontations with his guardian figure on a journey of self-realization.
A friend once noted that every comedic anime had its mandated hot springs episode, and I had to laugh at how brilliantly Bruja works its in (as well as the fun the writers evidently had in doing so). This is in addition to other cliché episodes, such as the hotel that turns out to be an abandoned (and now haunted) house as well as what I’d like to refer to as the bounty hunter code of ethics concerning the pseudo-ending. None of these detract from Bruja, because this series relies upon nothing but its characters to sustain itself. Thus there is no storyline too out there, no episode impugnable, because the only way the series can fail is if the characters do not develop.
That is what I mean by pseudo-ending, because Bruja actually has two. The first serves to wrap up plot and journey, while the second completes the characters. Unlike most extended finales, there’s an unsaid sorrow that should permeate the viewer’s consciousness. This is due to nothing short of the love developed between Nadie and Ellis throughout their experiences and the culmination of so much time on the road. In short, the series makes it evident that these characters know each other and are sacrificing for each other, even though neither would ask the other to do so for them. The result, if you like character-driven anime, is a bit of a tearjerker, as you realize that everything ends up exactly as it should, and you’ve been privy to some pretty intimate feeling captured though the two main characters’ realistic dialogue and some extraordinary situations.
This anime may not be for everyone. But if you like lighter stories that develop their characters with charm, humor, and a bit of subtlety, Bruja, if for nothing else, is a trip worth stealing a jeep for the privilege of taking friends of similar interest along for the ride.
This review is based on a FUNimation box set purchased by the reviewer.
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Medium: TV Anime (26 episodes)
Genres: Action, Adventure
Director: Koichi Mashimo
Studio: Bee Train
Original Run: Apr. 2 - Sep. 24, 2007 (TV Tokyo-Japan)
Release Date: Dec. 15, 2009 (FUNimation-N.America)
Rated: Not Rated
Eru Kazado – El Cazador de la Bruja (English translation: The Hunter of the Witch) – is Bee Train’s finishing move to their girls-with-guns trilogy (after Noir and Madlax), a bounty hunter-and-prize buddy pic that spans 26 episodes spread over 2 FUNimation box sets. Episodes 1-10 are formulaic and inexplicably slow-paced, but there’s an innate charm that I blame on the original writing and talented English dub that warrants a committed run through. The fact that I laugh, literally, out loud despite myself three to four times per episode is enough to make me dispute the conclusion reached by Anime News Network’s Shelf Life (though not by dissention on any of its points).
Early-20s Nadie (the bounty hunter) has come into town to capture a pre-teen-ish Ellis (the bounty) while defending herself and the bounty from the myriad other bounty hunters on her tail. Nadie is over-accommodating, inexplicably acting most of the time like an over-protective sister instead of a bounty hunter, and Ellis is like a tweeny female version of rain man with unexplained “abilities” and a case of (dum-dum-dum!) amnesia. The sources of Ellis' abilities and Nadie's passive nature are explained in the last few episodes (Eps 11-13) of the first box set, which also serve to catapult the plot into high gear without losing the charm that you’re "forced" to linger through during episodes 1-10. There’s also a plot about a top-secret experiment and the man behind the bounty as well as interactions between those in contact with Nadie and those who are observing her.
Even when you’re watching the action sequences, you might find yourself asking where the action actually is. Whether this is intentional or not, El Cazador really forces you to concentrate on the characters. If this was a more shallow series, this concentration would be a great downfall, but the writers have come up with some decently three-dimensional characters worth your interest and time. It’s not that the characters are particularly deep, but there’s enough kept unsaid that a viewer is forced to wonder. As proof of this, in episodes 11-13, when most up-in-the-air mysteries are more or less explained or have some light shed on them, the series seems to move into high gear. But high-gear pacing does not mean value, and, if you want to look at the series in terms of geography, the southern US, Mexico, and Latin American countries tend to be significantly slower-going regions. The series never really identifies where it takes places to my notice, though one would assume Mexico. The fact that the series manages to evoke this sense of timelessness is a testament to, not a condemnation of, its direction.
It would be impossible to recommend this series without the English dub. This is due in general to the actual use of Spanish (in a Spanish-titled anime, go figure). While used sparsely and sporadically, the lobbing in of occasional simple and familiar Spanish words and phrases makes the dub more sincere. In particular, though, the dub would not be what it is without Maxey Whitehead as Ellis and Trina Nishimura as Nadie. Whitehead offers up a very clueless naiveté that borders on monotone and lends great punch to the character’s antics and expressions, while Nishimura’s performance, which is overwhelmingly warm and only justified somewhere in episodes 11-13, is indispensable because of the sarcastic asides Nadie makes to herself and her travel companion during their trip ever further south. Both actors lend a humorously endearing intimacy, seldom seen in dubs, that is the drive of this series.
If you’re not laughing by episode four, call it a day. But if you noticed a smile creeping up on your face or your gut suddenly aching for breath due to sucker-punch lines, stick with the rest of the first half of this series. The writing and voice acting make for a wholly enjoyable journey that, while not anything spectacular, is too well-executed to pass up.
This review is based on a FUNimation box set purchased by the reviewer.
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Available from Amazon
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El Cazador de la Bruja Set 1
Released By: Funimation
Released: 11/25/09
Reviewed: 1/13/10
Rated: 17+
In a small town in Mexico, a young girl named Ellis is living with a fortune teller while performing on the streets to make a little money. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s actually being hunted by [...]
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So I decided that I had to pick this up, due to several facts:
Bounty Hunters
Girl with mysterious past/power who is pretty much retarded
Mexico
Mexican bounty hunters rule. In fact, this show inspired me to create a great premise for a movie, which I’m not going to get into much, and instead I’ll just say that a [...]
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Set in a wild west Mexican world, El Cazador de la Bruja tells the story of Nadie, a feisty, scantily-clad female bounty hunter who is a pro with a pistol. She ends up with more than she bargains for when she pursues Ellis, a timid little girl with a bounty on her head. After discovering [...]
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Before I run off to the Anime and Hollywood keynote speech (which I'll be liveblogging, so stay tuned!), I just got a press release from FUNimation announcing the cast of El Cazador de la Bruja, the supernatural adventure series from NOIR and Madlax director Koichi Mashimo. The cast includes Maxey Whitehead as the sweet and innocent Ellis, and Trina Nishimura as sexy gunswoman Nadie.FUNimation also announced that they've acquired Sands of Destruction, which some of you may know as World Destruction, starring Maaya Sakamoto and Mamoru Miyano. Score!
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El Cazador de la Bruja
(literally “Witch-Hunter”) is an anime that's just a bit like Thelma and
Louise...except Thelma is a witch and Louise is a bounty hunter. Or
maybe it's the other way around. Anyway, it's an adventure by Kouichi
Mashimo, the creator of other shows with the theme of strong
relationships between women-- Noir
and Madlax come to
mind.
FUNimation
has acquired
the rights to the 26-episode series, featuring the calm but naïve
Ellis, fiesty markswoman Nadie, and cast of colorful friends and
enemies. They'll be releasing it in two season sets later this year,
and hopefully with a bit more fanfare than this announcement was
given!
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Nadie let the man run down the ravine at full speed. A wake of dust that his feet kicked up from the dry riverbed trailed in the moonlight as he ran. He stumbled and kept going on all fours, using his hands, like an animal for who standing up straight asked too much [...]
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Nadie is one of those figures that I feel in love with without knowing anything about the character or the anime she’s from. When I saw her prototype, I know she’s one figure I must get, her pose is just too cool. Later on I did look for the anime El Cazador, the final part [...]
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It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to have an honest-to-goodness rant. I’ve tried to moderate myself and just post my thoughts in the form of structured reviews, but the time has come to break down those barriers and lay into the easiest target of the Spring 2007 season- El Cazador de la [...]
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Nadie and Ellis have finished their adventures, and now they seem ready to hand the baton of main character over to someone else and settle down into obscurity. When push comes to shove, however, will they be able to give up being the stars of the show?
Nadie experiences extreme boredom after watching twenty-five episodes of [...]
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